Medical imaging apparatuses have become increasingly important in medical procedures such as eye examinations and surgeries. For example, an eye imaging apparatus capable of imaging a posterior segment of an eye can be particularly useful in diagnosing retinal and optic nerve problems, which are among the leading causes in vision loss. Compared to a non-contact eye imaging apparatus, a contact eye imaging apparatus has the advantage of a wide field of view which offers the benefit of enabling evaluation of pathologies located on the periphery of the retina. However, the contact eye imaging apparatus has to be placed in direct contact with a cornea of an eye of a patient during the examination, which could potentially cause cross-contamination among patients. Thus, cross-contamination is a concern for a medical imaging apparatus that is in direct contact with patients.
Because a medical imaging apparatus is in general expensive with complex optical systems, it may not be practical to sterilize the imaging apparatus in the autoclave after each use. In addition, the disinfection procedures can be expensive and requires long turn-around time. Furthermore, the traditional disinfecting procedure may not be able to thoroughly eliminate cross-contamination because of the increasing resistance of bacteria and viruses to disinfection. A disposable sterile cover for the medical imaging apparatus is not only cost effective, but also protects the patients from possible cross-contamination resulting from using the imaging apparatus.
However, optical performance is important for a medical imaging apparatus to provide accurate and reliable medical information. Optical performance is particularly important for a contact eye imaging apparatus. As discussed in U.S. application Ser. No. 14/191,291 entitled “Eye Imaging Apparatus with a Wide Field of View and Related Methods”, the scattering and reflection from the eye causes significant difficulty in achieving a high quality image of the posterior segment of the eye. For an eye imaging apparatus with an optical window having a concave surface configured to image the posterior segment of the eye, it is important for the disposable cover to conform to the concave shape of the optical window and maintain the concave shape during the attaching and detaching processes in order to obtain the high quality image. Therefore, there is a need for a disposable cap for the eye imaging apparatus that is able to conform to the concave shape of the optical window to achieve high quality optical performance, and to be able to securely attach to and easily detach from the eye imaging apparatus. In addition, a disposable cap has to be able to meet rigorous FDA sterilization requirements and provide an effective physical barrier to bacteria and viruses.